Garlic & the low-FODMAP diet

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By The Gut Health Doctor Team

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You don’t need to cut it out completely. Try using garlic oil or pickled garlic instead!

Let me just say I LOVE garlic. It’s a top source of prebiotics, aka food that feeds our good bacteria and adds so much flavour. Garlic has also been praised for its benefits for thousands of years – and there are even a couple of quality studies that back-up its flu-fighting potential (albeit in very high dose)

But if you’ve been advised by a specialist dietitian to try a low-FODMAP diet to help your symptoms, garlic-infused oil (strained) or pickled garlic are low-FODMAP alternatives bringing you all the flavour without the fructans.

That’s because the fructans (the FODMAP) in garlic doesn’t dissolve in the oil (i.e. it’s water-soluble NOT oil soluble). You’re welcome.

Just remember the low FODMAP diet is classed as a medical diet and should ONLY be done with the guidance of a trained dietitian – it can be risky business for your health (that’s a topic for another post) – and the restriction stage should only be done for a maximum of 8 weeks. Reintroduction is so important so please don’t cut out all high-FODMAP foods long term! More info on that in my book.

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